Morse Code
by annaoi
Summary: ONE SHOT. Green Lantern sees that two of his colleagues/friends are sending secret messages to each other.


"If we signed up with Mattel, we might not even have this problem in the first place"

The speedster in red was sitting in his designated Hall of Justice chair. The other six chairs of the round table were also filled. Like the other five who stared at Flash with scrutiny, Green Lantern was feeling very frustrated about their current budget problem brought by an accident that involved a handful of junior leaguers demolishing ten high-rise buildings and with no villain to threaten the human existence. Not even a robbery was in progress. Things got more problematic when the buildings were later found to be owned by Lexcorp. And probably just to tick them off, Luthor had threatened to sue them with property damage.

Unfortunately, the known Superman nemesis has every right to do so.

While he nursed a head ache, John wished that it was just as simple as writing a cheque with a 'sorry' note. Alas, the price was too much, even for a billionaire-slash-caped-crusader. Maybe letting toy companies buy rights to make action figures out of the Justice League wasn't such a bad idea. It didn't take long to see that his colleagues were almost starting to agree with Flash's suggestion.

Superman sighed and started to slouch.

"For the meantime, let's just put that into consideration" uttered the man of steel, "We have to focus on what we can contribute physical-wise and talent-wise"

"I'll have a talk with Doctor Fate and Zatanna and see if they can do a spell for this one" said Hawkgirl.

The avian heroine gave a very good proposition that made Flash's idea shrink into nothingness.

"Ok. That's actually great" Superman declared, "Anyone else?..."

The Martian Manhunter was quick to give names and so did Flash. Superman had a notepad and pen ready.

Meanwhile, John couldn't help but stare at the woman across from him.

Shayera was exceptionally glowing today. Her skin was rosy in all the right parts and her face was cheery in a way that caused his mind to travel back to the night that they rekindled their need for each other. Even though it's been a few months since that moment, he had trouble letting go of that the image of her in his arms.

In an abrupt manner, the collective voices of the meeting woke the Green Lantern from the daydream.

"… I still think we need more muscle with this" says the authoritative voice of the man with the big 'S' on the chest.

Pretending that he was listening the whole time, John agreed audibly.

And then Superman was back trying to organize the list of people on his reporter's notepad, while Wonder Woman joined the name suggesting. Wally, J'onn and Shayera continued adding comments.

Words were making them busy again… except for one guy.

John noticed that Batman was the only one who remained silent. The brooding dark knight was always particular to the words he'd say in League meetings, but he wasn't always this quiet. In truth, Green Lantern couldn't remember if Batman has ever said anything since the meeting began. The white lenses that the man used in emphasizing his glares were showing no emotions. It was as if, he was a statue among living things, a gargoyle that watched over them.

Soon, the Lantern wasn't the only one noticing his silence. Diana stopped talking and looked at Bruce when Flash opened up the next item of the discussion.

"So… Are we going to suspend these juniors who caused all this?" Wally asked with slight arrogance.

"Yes" Superman agreed plainly, "… and we'll have to replace their patrol group for that sector in Metropolis for a while.

With that, the name suggesting started again. The ones that actively participated were too engrossed to notice that the princess and the knight were staring at each other silently. Pretending not to notice it, John exclaimed a few names for the patrol position before Clark nodded and jotted them down onto his pad.

Then, he saw it... That one collection of movements that made the Lantern continue his observation

Wonder Woman placed her elbows onto the table and began resting her chin on one of her palms. Discreetly, with her free hand, she began silently tapping a finger onto the table. It looked like she was just mentally reciting a tune, but it became clear that it was more than a random display of boredom when Batman, who sat directly across from her, was lightly tapping his index finger too.

_Heh. Morse Code. Not a bad way to be sneaky._

John hasn't forgotten the coding skills he picked up from his stint in the Marine Corps. Reading their secret conversation was too easy.

Quickly, he read batman's codes and pieced a rough sentence together.

_*Not upset about d8*_

Wonder Woman displayed a slight smirk and replied with fast taps.

_*Ur silence tells me otherwise*_

Batman narrowed his eyes.

_*Not a gud tym 2 talk*_

Again the princess was quick to reply.

_*D8 got intrupted, u wer gonna tell me something*_

They stopped to see that Flash and Shayera were arguing about some suggestions. Superman stopped the two with a kind tone and continued with important matters.

In an effort to make the meeting longer, Green Lantern managed to get another topic that's bound to get more discussion out of the four.

"I think Lex is planning something" he said, "It's no coincidence that all his buildings collapsed"

In unison, Shayera and Wally agreed. Clark had a question mark on his face but eventually rolled with it. J'onn joined in. As soon as the others started yapping about Lex, fingers continued to tap.

_*Tell me. Wat is it?*_

_*No*_

_*B…*_

Diana warned with a stern face and patiently formed the message with the code.

_*…It's already hard to sched another d8. We myt not get chance to talk priv8ly in a long tym*_

The irregular taps took painstakingly long to finish but the others still hasn't noticed it yet.

_*Talk at the manor* _He declared strongly while his face remained emotionless.

_*No. Tell me now or I punch you ryt here in front of everybody*_

It was obvious to John that her mind nagged of whatever the man has tried to tell her. Diana wore that expression that exposed her impatience. On the other hand, Bruce turned silent but his stoic glare was soon interrupted by Clark's voice.

"Batman, what do you think?"

The cowl tilted and his mouth opened for the first time as pairs of eyes waited for his response. Out of all them, Diana stared for a different reason.

"It's a great possibility, but we need to get more intel about it. I'll call Oracle up for it"

"Can we make the call now?" Shayera asked.

Immediately, he pushed a couple of buttons on his gauntlet and made a swipe motion with it. Seconds after, a huge holographic screen appeared behind Superman. There's a straight line that traveled from end to end, occasionally moving into waves.

"Oracle here. Come in, Batman" said a filtered voice that jittered the waves.

"I'm in the Hall of Justice" Batman said to the hologram, "We need intel about Luthor's current status"

"Alright. Last Thurday, I deployed some of my agents in Metropolis…"

As they listened to Oracle with chairs and heads adjusted to the hologram, Diana faked a cough that made Batman looked at her again.

It was strange, John thought. If he really didn't want to tell her, he should've ignored her by now. Though it's just a simple action that's out of the dark knight's character, it was strongly suggestive to the notion that he really wanted to say something to the princess.

Diana tactfully looked at everybody, making sure that no one was looking as the voice relayed an essay of information. John looked away to make her think it was safe to continue the coded conversation.

_*R u br8king up wid me again?* _she asked.

Batman turned his head slightly and looked down.

_*No*_

He returned to watching her fingers.

_*Is der… some1 else?* _She asked with a forming scowl.

Batman's eyes narrowed again.

_*Not in a mil. years*_

_*Den, wat is it?*_

The man didn't answer and became motionless. The princess furrowed her eyebrows. She was thinking of more questions to ask him...

And then her expression changed. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened slightly.

_*Wer u gonna ask me 2 marry u?"_

Even though he saw it coming, the question still shocked Green Lantern. It makes perfect sense. Bruce was extra moody about the date being interrupted by who knows what and his strange silence confirms it.

He was going to pop the question in their special evening. He was really going to say those four words.

John tried not to look at their hands but failed miserably. All he managed to do was to sit as motionless as Batman and pray that his face didn't convey a smile.

Diana made a quick grin before she stopped herself from exposing all the excitement. She already knew that she assumed correctly. Bruce sighed and looked at her directly in the eye.

_*Didn't plan 4 u to find out dis way…*_

He let out a small smile.

_*…Asking dis as a coded msg is definitely not romantic. Sorry 4 dat*_

Wonder Woman was now holding her mouth with both hands. She did it while she held her breath. Meanwhile, Superman and Flash was have a Q and A with Oracle. However, Shayera and J'onn stopped listening and noticed the princess' odd gesture.

Despite the extremely awful timing, he pushed through with the question.

*_Diana_…* he began tapping again. _*…Will you marry me?*_

It was Diana's turn to be silent. But her body language spoke volumes. She wanted to express it badly. No more secrecy. No more coding. Obviously, she didn't care if it was in Morse code or not. She was happy for just the fact that Bruce asked her the question.

"Yes!" she proclaimed loudly.

Everybody stopped. Oracle didn't emit the jitters of the waves. Clark and Wally made a questioning look. J'onn smiled and Shayera was expressing intense confusion.

John held his breath as everyone in the Hall of Justice looked at Wonder Woman. Apparently, he was the only one who noticed the blushing on Batman's exposed jaw. Bruce was tense and worried. It was clear that he didn't want his proposal exposed to everybody just yet. Despite her elation, Diana felt the need hide this special moment too, judging by the fact that she tried to keep her mouth shut afterwards. The mixture of confusion and questioning expressions was clear in the faces of the clueless. The only ones that seemed to know what was going in was the Lantern and the Martian Manhunter.

"Diana? Are you feeling alright?" Clark asked.

She was shocked to find that all eyes were on her.

"I – uh…" she uttered, "I feel fine"

Superman crossed his arms. He remained unconvinced. Diana was always a bad liar.

"I think… we should rest for a while" the Kryptonian declared, "We'll continue this. Same time, same place?"

Everyone nodded except for the dazed princess. Batman turned off the hologram and stood up. John stood up as well and looked at the knight amused. By most standards, his proposal sucked. But, somehow, it turned out very sincere and private as both would've wanted.

"Okie-dokie. Later guys!" Wally said as he started striding.

Apparently, he was the only one who had let go of the confusion and dwelled on other things.

In contrast, Clark approached Diana and spoke with concern.

"Are you sure you're alright? Maybe Giganta hit you too hard this morning"

Wonder Woman laughed nervously.

"I'm fine, Clark. It's just that…"

As she stood up, her eyes wondered to the dark figure across from her. She seemed as though her mind floated to space. At the same time, Shayera walked up to her and supported Clark's concern.

"Di, I think you need to eat. After all, we skipped a meal for this boring meeting… See you at the cafeteria, Ok?"

Diana nodded. She couldn't speak because her extreme happiness was still there.

Everyone headed for the door as a certain caped crusader stayed put. On his way out, John saw that Diana wasn't budging either. Before the door completely closed and after the others were too far to notice, John slowed his walk and peaked behind.

Alone in the Justice Hall with the woman of his dreams, Bruce, with his cowl off, was on one knee and held up a ring that sparkled like a star.

* * *

><p>John sipped from his coffee as he sat with the others in the cafeteria. Wally was cracking jokes again and most in their group laughed shamelessly. In between the jokes, he stared across the table to where Batman and Wonder Woman sat together. It made sense that Wonder Woman joined the table but it was very unusual for Batman to be there too.<p>

They didn't cuddle or anything; they just kept a certain distance that didn't suggest anything romantic. But Diana was extra happy because of the obvious reasons. She laughed at Wally's jokes louder than everyone else. Those who didn't know about the coded proposal found it weird but rolled with it nonetheless.

With a fake cough, John caught the attention of the one who never laughs. He began tapping codes with his fingers while the others were engrossed in small talk.

_*Congratulations. When r u gonna tell us officially?* _

Batman sat stoicly. As always, he didn't express anything. But then he replied discreetly.

_*Soon…Maybe tonight… Btw, Congratulations…*_

John scoffed. He didn't understand why Batman would congratulate him until he saw the series of finger taps that followed while he took another gulp of the coffee.

_*… I think it's a boy*_

Lantern's eyes grew wider and spewed the coffee all over the table.

Immediately, he looked at the winged woman and her belly. It doesn't have a visible bump yet but its a definite possibility.

Besides… Batman won't lie about this sort of information.

"Oh, C'mon!" Flash exclaimed as he held the coffee-spilled box of fries, "I hadn't tasted these yet!"

Similarly to earlier events, everybody looked at Green Lantern with curiosity. At a loss for words he just sat there silently, thinking the eventual happiness that he'll express later on after this small embarrassment.

**The End**

* * *

><p><em>Author's note:<em>

_This was just a weird WonderBat proposal idea that entered my mind. I've read a lot of proposal stories with the conventional dinner scene. I just thought that maybe Bruce didn't have a choice but to propose to her in one of the weirdest places... and he had to do in Morse Code. I thought I'd go with the "txt style" sentencing with the secret messages because I imagined that the sentences would take a long time to finish if I didn't do short cut versions. _

_Yeah, it sounded like terrible idea but I couldn't help but write it. Again... Sorry if you found this terrible. I'll be editing this for grammar mistakes._

_Anyways, I'll be away for most of the time because of school and I'll be checking for reviews once I get a breather. I love your reviews and I am grateful for them. _

_Thanks for reading. Be right back when my school term ends. _


End file.
